Challenged on the accuracy of U.S. intelligence,
President Bush said Wednesday there is no doubt the
Iranian government is providing armor-piercing weapons
to kill American soldiers in Iraq. But he backed away
from claims the top echelon of Iran's government was
responsible.

Bush, at a news conference, also said he would fight any
attempt by the Democratic-controlled Congress to cut off
money for the war. "They need to fund our troops and the
need to make sure we have the flexibility necessary to
get the job done," he said.

The House is expected to vote Friday on a nonbinding
resolution opposing Bush's decision to send 21,500
additional troops to Iraq.

The meeting with reporters in the East Room was Bush's
first news conference since Dec. 20 and the first since
he announced the troop buildup in Iraq. The
four-year-old war hangs heavily on his presidency, and
Bush's approval rating in an Associated Press-Ipsos poll
in February matched an all-time low of 32 percent.

Iran was a dominant theme of reporters' questions
because of conflicting statements about U.S.
intelligence in Iran and recurring speculation that Bush
is looking for an excuse to attack the Islamic republic,
which is believed by Washington and its allies to be
seeking nuclear weapons.

Defending U.S. intelligence that has pinpointed Iran as
a hostile arms supplier in Iraq, Bush said, "Does this
mean you're trying to have a pretext for war? No. It
means I'm trying to protect our troops."

There have been mixed signals in the administration
about Iran's involvement in supplying Shiite groups in
Iraq with a particularly lethal type of roadside bombs
known as explosively formed penetrators.

Three senior U.S. military officials, at a weekend
briefing in Baghdad, said the highest levels of the
Iranian government had ordered the weapons smuggled into
Iraq. They based their claim on the belief the weapons
are moving into Iraq through the Iran's Revolutionary
Guards elite Quds Force.

But Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, said later he was not ready to conclude that
Iran's top leaders were behind the attacks. Some
lawmakers also have questioned the administration's
statements.

Wading into the debate, Bush said the Quds Force was
instrumental in supplying the weapons - "we know that,"
he said - and that the Quds Force was part of the
Iranian government. "That's a known," he said. "What we
don't know is whether or not the head leaders of Iran
ordered the Quds Force to do what they did."

Pressed again on the subject, Bush displayed some
irritation and said, "Whether (Iranian President Mahmoud)
Ahmadinejad ordered the Quds Force to do this, I don't
think we know. But we do know that they're there and I
intend to do something about it. And I've asked our
commanders to do something about it. And we're going to
protect our troops." Ahmadinejad has denied Iran was
behind the attacks.

Bush came into the news conference after receiving a
briefing from Baghdad by Gen. David Petraeus, the new
commander of U.S. forces in Iraq.

Bush said he talked with Petraeus about coordination
between Iraqi and coalition forces, and that while it
seemed to be good, more work was needed on developing an
efficient command-and-control structure.

Bush responded carefully when asked about Russian
President Vladimir Putin's accusations Saturday that the
United States was undermining global security and
provoking a nuclear arms race. The depth of Putin's
criticism surprised U.S. officials.

Bush said Putin was "the same strong-willed person" he
has known since 2001 and there is a "complicated
relationship" between Washington and Moscow.

On other matters, Bush said:

_The agreement announced Tuesday to shut down North
Korea's nuclear program in exchange for fuel assistance
was "a good first step." He said he strongly disagreed
with former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton that it was a
bad deal.

_He will not comment on the 2008 presidential race. "I
will resist all temptation to become the
pundit-in-chief."

_He will not comment on whether he authorized members of
his administration to leak the identity of Valerie Plame,
a one-time CIA officer whose husband, former ambassador
Joseph Wilson, criticized the administration's case for
the Iraq war. Similarly, Bush refused to say whether he
might pardon I. Lewis "Scooter Libby, the former aide to
Vice President Dick Cheney. Libby is on trial on charges
of lying and obstructing the investigation into the
Plame's identity.

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